Former AG Kane ordered to jail, 2 years after sentencing

A judge in suburban Philadelphia on Tuesday gave former Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane less than two days to report to jail to begin serving a perjury sentence that she received two years ago. Judge…

A judge in suburban Philadelphia on Tuesday gave former Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane less than two days to report to jail to begin serving a perjury sentence that she received two years ago.

Judge Wendy Demchick-Alloy said there is no longer any reason for Kane to remain free, one day after the state Supreme Court declined to take up her appeal.

Kane, a Democrat, has been out on $75,000 bail since her October 2016 sentencing to 10 to 23 months for leaking grand jury information and lying about it.

“Given that the rationale for (the) defendant remaining at liberty pending appeal has expired, post-sentence bail is revoked,” the judge wrote, imposing a 9 a.m. Thursday deadline for Kane to report to the Montgomery County Correctional Facility.

Demchick-Alloy directed the Lackawanna County sheriff to serve a copy of her order on Kane, who lives in Scranton.

The Montgomery County district attorney’s office formally requested the order earlier Tuesday, arguing the Supreme Court decision was the end of the legal road for the 52-year-old Kane.

“Two different appellate courts have reviewed her case, yet her judgment of sentence remains,” wrote District Attorney Kevin Steele. “She received a fair trial, her guilt was proven beyond a reasonable doubt and now it is time for her to serve her sentence.”

Steele’s bail revocation motion to Demchick-Alloy anticipated that Kane may have argued the judge had discretion to keep Kane out on bail while she “seeks further state review.”

Steele said that was only possible under a motion for the high court to reconsider its decision turning down her appeal, which he said could not be done simply to delay the sentence. He said a reconsideration application could only have been for delay purposes.

“The Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s denial of discretionary review should be considered the conclusion of (Kane’s) avenues for direct appeal in state court,” Steele argued.

Kane was convicted of two counts of felony perjury and seven misdemeanors, including obstruction and conspiracy.

The first woman and first Democrat to be elected as Pennsylvania’s attorney general, Kane resigned from office after her 2016 conviction.

She had argued before Superior Court that she should have been allowed to use evidence of a pornographic email scandal that rocked the state’s judicial community as well as evidence related to the Jerry Sandusky child molestation case that her former office prosecuted.

The lower appeals court also rejected her argument that she should have been allowed to prevent all Montgomery County judges from handling her case, as well as her claims that evidence against her was illegally obtained and that she had been the victim of selective and vindictive prosecution.